Date of Graduation

5-2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Advisor/Mentor

Michael Daugherty

Committee Member

Betsy Orr

Second Committee Member

Cynthia Moore

Keywords

After-school Program, Elementary, Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Garden-based Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if three elementary school garden club programs influenced students' attitudes and behaviors regarding fruit and vegetable consumption. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis took place, in the form of pretest and posttest questionnaires as well as participant interviews. Overall, non-significant results were found in the quantitative portion of the study, which led the researcher to determine that the garden club program had no significant effect on the participants regarding perceptions of fruit and vegetable consumption. The overall non-significant differences found before and after the garden club intervention programs could lead researchers to further analyze effective factors of garden-based education. After qualitative analysis of participant interviews, the researcher determined that there were mostly non-significant changes in healthy eating after participating in the garden club, but that the overall experience for participants was positive in many aspects such as showing respect for nature, knowledge of how food affects the body, and that the activities were enjoyable. Researchers, educators, curriculum developers, and other professionals may be able to draw upon findings from this study to develop garden-based education to become an effective mode of food and nutritional content delivery.

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